1937 Ford hotrod project almost a miracle

The Larsons are into Ford hot rods. Their fleet; 1937 ‘flatback’ sedan, a custom 1940 Mercury coupe and a 1964 Galaxie 500.

The completed 1937 Ford ‘flatback’ sedan.

PHOTO: Alyn Edwards, for PNG

Bill’s ’37 Ford hotrod project almost a miracle

The completed 1937 Ford ‘flatback’ sedan.

PHOTO: Alyn Edwards, for PNG

Larson family and friends completed Bill’s project — and he drove it after recovering from cancer

By Alyn Edwards, Vancouver Sun

Originally published: February 5, 2013

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Vancouver contractor Bill Larson believes the support of his family and a wide group of car enthusiast friends is a big reason he is a cancer survivor today.

By mid-2012, his future looked bleak as cancer and weight loss took its toll on his body. His hobby project to turn a 1937 Ford sedan into a hot rod remained in pieces in his garage.

What he didn’t know at the time was that his retired mechanic brother Jim, Jim’s son Bob and a host of car friends and supporters had collected all the parts from Bill’s garage for the uncompleted 1937 Ford ‘flatback’ sedan hot rod and were hurriedly trying to finish the project.

When Bill’s health took a significant turn for the worse in August, they promised him his car would be waiting to drive when he got out of the hospital.

Pioneer hot rodder Jerry Abramson was the first to reach into his pocket, then encouraged other friends to do the same to finish the bodywork on Bill’s car. When the body was completed and painted, friends got together to install it on a new frame that had been built by his brother Jim the previous year.

Bill was still in the hospital when Jim told him he would be able to drive his hot rod when he got out. Like magic, Bill began to perk up while businesses like Tom the Tire Guy, the Old Car Centre and Aldergrove A-1 Glass donated necessary items. Hot rod builder Dave Salter took the car to his shop to wire and fire the engine so it could be driven.

When Bill was finally released from hospital in October, he was amazed to find the project completed by dozens of family members and hot rod friends who had donated money and labour.

Bill and his older brother Jim grew up in South Vancouver during the hot rod and custom craze of the Fifties and Sixties. They were into cars before they were old enough to have a driver’s licence and between the two of them have owned more than two dozen hot rods over the years – all Ford products. Jim and Bill credit the support and patience of their wives, Jackie and Eileen for the long hours of garage time.

It was in the summer of 1957 that Jim Larson saw his first car – a 1939 Ford Tudor sedan – on a Main Street gas station lot while riding home on the bus. He had just finished peeling onions at the Pacific National Exhibition for 10 days, earning $37.50.

“The car cost $35 and my mother was really angry when I came home with only pocket change,” he recalls.

His father bought him a low-mileage 1954 Ford Tudor sedan when Jim was 17. Jim and his friends eventually drove the Ford to Tijuana, Mexico, for a custom green and white tuck ’n’ roll Naugahyde interior that took only one day to complete and cost $129.

In the years following, Jim built a series of hot rods with a number of cars from the Thirties and Forties, including 1939 and 1941 Ford convertibles, two Model-A Fords and four 1950s Fords. His current driver is a Wimbledon White 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 fastback with a beefed up V8 engine. It replaces a similar car that he sold to get married.

Younger brother Bill also got into cars at an early age with a 1937 Ford coupe purchased for $75 earned with a paper route when he was just 13 years old. As time progressed, Bill built a series of Model A Ford coupes and sedan models — most with modern high performance Chevrolet V8 engines.

He then followed up with a very rare 1937 Ford four-door convertible purchased in pieces in Saskatchewan and rebuilt with modern power. He drove his hot rods tens of thousands of kilometres before he got sick.

Jim Larson’s son Bob was in the garage learning about cars from his dad and his Uncle Bill from the age of three and built his first completed hot rod in his early twenties.

Bob Larson’s present ride is extra special because it represents one of the first radically customized cars done by legendary California customizer Sam Barris. In 1949, Nick Matranga paid $850 for a low mileage 1940 Mercury coupe. He took it to Barris Customs where the top was chopped and a host of body modifications were completed over the next year.

Bob Larson has recreated the spirit of the ‘Matranga Merc’ with his own radically customized 1940 Mercury coupe.

He bought his car in pieces from a family friend and had the top chopped by five inches in the front and seven inches at the rear along with dozens of other modifications replicating Nick Matranga’s car built nearly six decades before.

An early Chrysler 354-cubic-inch hemi engine lurks beneath the hood, delivering power to the rear wheels through a Chevrolet automatic overdrive transmission.

“I’ve met so many great people that I wouldn’t know if it wasn’t for old cars,” he says. He regularly attends hot rod shows in Puyallup and Yakima, Wash., with his parents and his Uncle Bill.

“When Uncle Bill got sick and we had the opportunity to finish his car, we all jumped in,” the Vancouver park board equipment operator says.

Bill Larson is filled with gratitude. “I have about 45 people to thank and all the businesses who contributed,” he says, now back cruising with his brother and nephew.

His health has improved dramatically since his family and friends put the car he was building on the road in December.

“The whole thing has brought us closer as a family,” he says. “After not being able to do anything for a year, driving this car is very high on my bucket list.”

Alyn Edwards is a classic car enthusiast and partner in Peak Communicators, a Vancouver-based public relations company. aedwards@peakco.com